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This memo provides twelve tips for writing short,
effective professional memoranda concerning policy decisions. These tips
are not unbreakable rules, but they provide standards or presumptions
that will serve you well in a wide range of professional settings.
Writing is a personal business and you must find a style that makes you
comfortable. With the help of these tips and lots of practice, anyone,
or at least any Maxwell MPA, can become an effective professional
writer.
1. Stick to the main
points.
A
typical decision maker is very busy, and your memo must compete for his
or her time. A decision maker will quickly become impatient with
tangents, no matter how clever or interesting. Focus on the points that
help make your case; leave out the minor points.
2. Be concise, but clear
and complete.
Perhaps the most difficult trade-off in writing a policy memo is to be
complete and clear while at the same time being concise. You need to put
down every important step in your argument, expressed so that the reader
can readily understand it, but in most cases you also must limit your
memo to a couple of pages. The only way to find the right balance is to
edit your memo. Edit, edit, edit, and edit some more.
3. State your
recommendation first.
Nothing is as important as your recommendation and you should not save
it until the end. In a short memo the reader will not know what to do
with your analysis if he or she does not know where it is headed. A
professional memo is not the same as an academic paper in which you can
present detailed evidence and analysis and then come to a policy
conclusion. When a decision must be made, you should lead with your
recommendation. The reader should have no doubt as to where you stand.
4. State your
recommendation with confidence and authority.
In a
professional setting, you have been asked for your recommendation, so do
not let your language make it seem as if you are unsure about it or
unwilling to take responsibility for it. Make it clear where you stand.
In addition, avoid talky introductions such as: "I have examined the
material on this subject...." or "As you requested, I have compared the
alternative policies for...." Get right to the point. Say something
direct, such as "I recommend..."
5. Provide a clear
framework for the reader.
The
purpose of your memo is to build a case for your recommendation. You
should make sure to tell the reader how the pieces or your argument fit
together. One good strategy is to be explicit about your framework, with
headings or with a brief overview of the framework at the beginning of
the memo (after the recommendation!). Another possible strategy is to
edit the sentences at the beginning of each paragraph so that the
framework is clear without ever being mentioned explicitly. In either
case, you should avoid repetition. For example, do not say something
like "As noted earlier, the third key point concerns...." Moreover, you
should avoid long paragraphs. Each paragraph should refer to one of the
main points in your framework; longer paragraphs that refer to more than
one main point are confusing. In some cases, the framework may include
introductory material explaining certain key concepts before they are
actually applied to the decision at hand.
6. Have a strong
conclusion.
Think
of the end of your memo as your last chance to drive your recommendation
home to the reader. Do not end with just another point (as journalists
often do). Instead, end by summarizing your main points and stating why
they lead inevitably to your recommendation. One way to undermine your
memo is to save a main point for the conclusion. This approach is
confusing because the reader does not know how this new point fits into
your framework. If a point is important enough to be in your memo, it is
important enough to be incorporated into your framework. The conclusion
should summarize and emphasize, not start anything new.
7. Accentuate the
strengths of your recommendation.
Your
memo should emphasize the strengths of your recommendation. Make a case
for something. Do not undercut your
recommendation with lengthy disclaimers or complaints about the lack of
good information; make the best case you can with available information.
The point here is not that you should be dishonest and hide the flaws of
your proposal. On the contrary, you should be sure to mention the
disadvantages of your recommendation and to explain why you are making
this recommendation in spite of these disadvantages. Instead, this tip
is about balance. You cannot convince someone that your recommendation
is the best course of action unless you are clear about its strengths.
In addition, this tip implies that your memo should not devote many
words to alternative recommendations. If credible alternatives are
available, you should briefly explain why you did not select them, but
you should not dwell on them. You cannot make a strong case unless you
keep the focus on your recommendation.
8. Avoid the passive voice.
In a
professional memo, the passive voice disconnects the writer from the
substance and makes it seem as if you are hesitant about your
recommendation or analysis. Moreover, the active voice is livelier and
more direct than the passive voice -- useful traits when you are trying
to get someone's attention. Thus, for example, you should write "I
recommend" not "It is recommended" and you should write "Several factors
support this argument" not "There are several factors that support this
argument."
9. Be attentive to word
choice, spelling, and grammar.
At
least for many readers, nothing undermines a writer's credibility faster
than misspelled words, inappropriate words, or poor grammar. If you do
not even care enough to check your spelling or to select the proper
words, many readers say, you must not care very much about the quality
of your information. If you cannot even construct a grammatical
sentence, you must not be able to construct a sensible argument. Edit
for word choice, spelling, and grammar (including punctuation), as well
as for substance. Use the spell checker on your computer! Review the
basic rules of grammar if you are having trouble with them! You cannot
convince people that your recommendation makes sense if they dismiss you
before finishing your memo.
10. Maintain a
professional tone.
In
many nonprofessional settings it is appropriate to write with an
irreverent or flip tone or to make your points through jokes. In a
professional setting, however, you should maintain a serious tone and
focus on making your analysis as clear and complete as possible. If you
are not serious about the task at hand, the reader is not likely to take
your recommendation seriously.
11. Write in plain
English, without jargon or graphs.
The
best method for getting through to a busy decision maker is to write in
plain English. Jargon should be avoided; it is distracting, and perhaps
confusing, unless you know the reader is familiar with it already.
Graphs place different demands on the reader than does plain English, so
they also are distracting. Important graphs may be put in an attachment
(see tip 12) but should not be in the text. In some cases, a simple
table may be an effective way to summarize information. A table listing
the pros and cons of various proposals could be helpful, for example, as
could a table summarizing the results of an important set of
calculations, such as calculations of net benefits from a project under
various conditions. Tables included in the text should always be simple.
12. Use an attachment to
present calculations or figures that support a main point.
If
one part of your argument is supported by a detailed set of calculations
or can be explained with a figure, it may be helpful to include those
calculations or that figure as an attachment to your memo. Attachments
should follow these rules: (a) Attachments should not be included unless
they add depth to your explanation of a key point. (b) Each attachment
should be referred to explicitly in the text, so that the reader knows
its role in the analysis. (c) An attachment should be regarded as a
supplement to the explanation in the text, not as a substitute for it;
the text should summarize the main point of the attachment. (d) Every
attachment should stand on its own; that is, a reader should be able to
understand the attachment without referring to the text of your memo.
The reader must refer to the text, of course, to understand the role
that the attachment plays in your analysis, but the information conveyed
in the attachment (the details of a benefit-cost calculation, for
example) should be accessible on its own.